Chapter 29

"A lot of activity down at the train terminal," Shepard said hunched next to a mound of rubble that used to be the bottom floor of an apartment building.

In the distance, the theater stirred with people filling through the front doors. There was activity in the streets, the parking lot, surrounding building, everywhere really. Terra Firma members streamed steadily from the ME subway entrance.

"We'll start there." Shepard pointed at the station's entrance beyond the theater's parking lot. "Tali, you have the map?"

A holographic map jumped up from Tali's Omni-Tool. She zoomed in on their section of the street. Shepard leaned in closer and moved the hologram up and down. With a frown, she sat back on her haunches.

"Any other way than through the front door?"

Tali studied the map. "There are maintenance access points on the rail line. One of them is just outside the theater, and that skyscraper - the Vancouver Transportation Department - it has access to the end of the rail. There's an underground boarding platform like the station."

"That building's swarming," Shepard said, "and the rail might be active. Those bombs need transportation out. If the trains are working in this part of the city, my guess is that's how they plan to do it."

"Shepard, look." Liara peeked over the broken wall.

Shepard keep her head low and looked over the edge. Four armored men with rifles strapped to their backs struggled up the station's stairs under the weight of a metal shipping container. Another crate with more armored men followed behind it.

Garrus settled in beside Shepard and hissed. "Bet that's not catering."

"Not a lot of caterers dress in armor," Shepard agreed.

"These men seem well equipped for a band of terrorists," Liara said.

"They must have quite the sponsors," Garrus said. "That's a Tsunami line class IV assault rifle. They're wearing a mix up of armor and weapons, but that solid gear."

"There's more of them coming. Armed," Liara said.

Shepard ducked down and shuffled over to Tali. "Any other way? If they're bringing up weapon containers, the rail's got to be live. We not coming in along the rail. We need directly into the terminal."

"Even on Palaven, we never used mass effect rails," Garrus muttered.

"Here, Shepard." Tali zoomed in on the map. "The terminal shares a drainage system with the theater."

"Where?" Shepard said looking over the map.

Tali pointed. "The train terminal has a large storage section for storing train cars. It butts up against the theater basement. See here. They share drain lines.

"So …"

"If we can get here," Tali pointed to an area on the street, "we can get into the drain through the manhole. Could be a problem though."

"What?" Shepard pressed.

Tali shook her head. "This section of the city has intermittent power. The drain systems are probably flooded."

"So … we can't get into them?" Shepard said.

"We need to flush them. Manual switch."

"You can do that?"

"From the train terminal."

Shepard frowned. "That's why we're using the drain. What else?"

"The theater."

Shepard shuffled back against the wall and turned to Liara and Garrus.

"Either of you seen Kaidan go in?"

"Yes," Liara said. "They got in."

"Good." Shepard peeked over the wall then looked back at Tali. "Where's that manhole, Tali?"

Tali shuffled over and popped her head up.

"There."

Shepard squinted. It was just off the side street. Armed guards strolled by in the distance.

"Kind of out in the open, isn't it?" Shepard said. "But it will have to work."

She crouched down and touched the comm in her ear.

XXX

"Kaidan," Shepard's voice said.

Kaidan touched his ear piece. People bumped against him as the jostled toward the theater's auditorium. James and Miranda squeezed against him in the swarm. Armed men stood along the wall scanning the crowd. One narrowed his eyes at Kaidan. Kaidan dropped his hand from his ear and glanced at James and Miranda.

"You heard that?" Kaidan murmured.

James nodded looking around. "Yep."

"All channel comm," Miranda said.

Kaidan glanced back at the theater's street entrance. A group of armed sentries stood on the top steps. They waved through the stream of Terra Firma members pointing at each member's ID card and nodding in acknowledgement. They'd been luck so far and gotten through. That wasn't what troubled him. It was the random people pulled aside at the entrance for further scrutiny. Two armored men signaled for their IDs and examined them under a blue Omni-Tool light. The Alliance Operations Department probably hadn't known about that, whatever it was the guards were seeing under that light. Kaidan hadn't known about it. His ID card dug into his palm as he turned back to the approaching auditorium doors.

It was more people than he'd thought. Hundreds of people swarmed the auditorium in civilian attire. Armored men with assault weapons lined the walls and patrolled just about every direction Kaidan looked. He scanned over faces as they wedged through the auditorium door. He didn't see any of the cell leaders so far.

The roar of voices and waves of people shoving different directions consumed them as the crowd spilled into the auditorium. It was standing room only at this point. People filled all the chairs, aisles, and even along most of the wall.

"There." Kaidan said to Miranda and James and nodded to a corner in the back.

Open doorways spotted the auditorium's back wall. Guards stood at regular intervals between the arches and scrutinized the passerbys. Kaidan glimpsed a crowded gallery with staircases presumably leading up to the balconies. Kaidan skimmed along the auditorium's back wall until they reached the corner he'd nodded toward.

A boy dressed in armor stood at attention at the gallery door next to them. It was the same boy who'd come on stage to talk about the worked-up dogs. The boy licked his lips, eyes darted around the crowd, and finger quivering on the rifle's trigger. Kaidan angled himself to keep the boy in his periphery as they settled their backs against the wall.

James elbowed Kaidan and nodded at a man watching a news vid on his datapad. He and Shepard glowed on the screen. They stood on the Council room floor. It was from a few days ago. He watched as he raised a hand to block the camera flashes. Kaidan glanced at the guards nearby. None seemed to be paying attention to the man's screen. He pressed further back into the shadows along the wall.

Kaidan rubbed the side of his face and pressed a finger against his ear. "It's Kaidan."

"Kaidan? I've been trying to get you. Good." It was Shepard's voice. "I need you to do something."

Kaidan listened still scanning his eyes over the growing crowd. He followed Miranda's eyes to the auditorium's entrance. Four armored men parted the crowd carrying a metal box and moving toward the stage. A whole line of armored men struggling under metal boxed followed the first. Actually, now that Kaidan was noticing, there were similar crates already lining the edge of the stage. Shepard's voice ended, and Kaidan touched his ear.

"Aye, aye."

He dropped his hand. James and Miranda's attention was riveted on the metal crates.

"Hey." Kaidan got their attention. "I'm going to the theater basement."

A man on stage threw open the top of a crate and hoisted up an assault rifle. The crowd whooped. A sticky weight grew in Kaidan's throat, but he turned away to face James and Miranda.

"You remember the faces we need to find?" Kaidan whispered.

The armed boy glanced over at them with a darkening frown. Kaidan snapped his attention back to the stage and clapped. James cupped hands around his mouth and hooted.

"Yeah," James said taking a breath between cheers.

Miranda clapped laggardly with a heavy sigh.

"I haven't seen anyone yet," she said.

"Keep looking, and don't use those ID cards. They're fine to flash in a crowd, but they won't stand up to inspection. I'm going to the basement," Kaidan said.

"Shouldn't we stay together, sir?" James asked.

"Stay up here. If you see a mark, stay on him. I'll be back."

A group on stage opened another crate and lifted a helmet, pair of gauntlets, a chest pieces, and more rifles. The muscles in Kaidan's jaw flexed. He slid along wall bumping against cheering bodies. A woman's Omni-Tool screen flickered off to the side. More news footage of that council meeting. Damnit. Kaidan ducked his head and pushed on. The boy guard eyed Kaidan but didn't say anything as Kaidan slipped through the archway into the back gallery.

Staircases teemed with people shoving their way up to the balconies. He'd had no idea Terra Firma had this many members in town. People swelled around him straining to glimpse the stage through gallery archways. Kaidan shifted through the crowd toward the far end of the gallery. The hallway behind the last staircase should have a service entrance to the basement.

James's voice crackled in his ear. "Major, you might be getting company. The one guard watching us caught a glimpse of that vid. He's looking around."

Kaidan cursed and picked up his pace. He pushed through a knot of people suddenly bursting into cheers. Kaidan glimpsed men tossing rifles from the stage into the spread hands of the crowd. Two guards along the gallery wall eyed him.

James's voice came again. "He's coming your way."

"I'll get his attention," Miranda said.

"No." Kaidan touched his ear, ducking his head, and turning into the crowd. "Just watch for the targets."

James's voice hesitated.

"Yes, sir," he said.

Miranda said nothing.

The guard against the wall with dreadlocks turned to the other one. He motioned at Kaidan with a frown. Loitering in the gallery when everyone else was pushing up the stairs or straining to see the auditorium's stage must look suspicious. Kaidan needed a reason to be lingering then. He waved at the crowd around the last staircase as if finally finding someone he was looking for. Dreadlocks stopped what looked like mid-sentence with the bearded guard next to him. He watched Kaidan go and squinted down the hall at the crowd by the staircase. Finally, he shook his head with a shrug resuming his stance against the wall.

Kaidan neared the last staircase and stopped short. A lone guard stationed at the foot of the stairs swiveled a helmet to Kaidan. She hefted an assault rifle in her hands. Kaidan moved into the crowd huddled around the auditorium's archway. A new voice boomed over the mic on stage. It sounded like greets and introductions. Kaidan's earpiece crackled. He darted a glance back at the helmeted guard. She held her rifle in tight and surveyed the crowd going up the stairs.

"What's going on?" Kaidan whispered touching his ear.

"I see one of your guys," James said. "Vince Tobin. He's giving some welcome speech on stage. I'll move up closer, see if I can tail him when he comes down."

"Miranda?" Kaidan said.

"What?"

"Stay together. If you see someone else to follow, let me know."

"Fine."

Kaidan's mouth tightened, but he dropped his hand without saying anything more. The helmeted guard shifted on her feet and tapped her fingers on the butt of the rifle. There was no way around her to that hallway. The two guards down the hall were certainly close enough to hear a commotion, not to mention what the crowd would see. Kaidan sighed then drew in a deep breath. His squared his shoulders and stepped out of the crowd. He strode toward the hallway behind the stairs. The guard whipped around to face him as he passed her.

"You need help?" she said sharply.

"No." Kaidan held up a hand and continued forward. "Continue on. Keep up the good work."

The rifle lowered in her hands. "What? Who're you?"

She rushed forward and stepped into his pathway. Kaidan stopped with a frown and glared at her.

"I work with Joseph Tobin." It was the only cell leader he knew for sure was there. "I'm going to the basement."

"Why?"

"You're a sentry. I'm Tobin's second hand. You don't need to know that."

He tried to step around her, but she put her arm out.

"I'll need more than just your assertion you're work for Tobin."

Kaidan's mind reeled searching through the passphrases. Color, spider, numbers – he'd memorized them, but it was different standing here under the guard's narrowing eyes. Tobin's cell passphrase used the color red. That was the only thing he knew for certain.

"Fine," he snapped and said in a rush, "Red widow seven ten five nine delta six."

The guard punched up her Omni-Tool, and Kaidan folded his arms with a pointed sigh. Her eyes darted up at him periodically as she scrolled through a screen glowing with lines of text. Kaidan slowed his breathing. Folded under his arms, his fingertips grazed the top of his belt. His pistol wedged into his hip as he waited. She looked up.

"All right. That's from last week though. Let me see your—"

"I've waited long enough." He pushed past her. "Tobin told me to get this done fast."

He turned around the corner into the hallway before she could stop him. At the far end of the unlit hallway stood a metal door. Kaidan pressed forward down the hall as footsteps stopped at the corner of the hallway.

"Stop!"

Kaidan paused with a sigh and turned.

"Hey, Larson, Conner. Here." She waved at someone.

The gallery's lights washed out her face as she faced him at the mouth of the hallway. She was still visible to the crowd probably. Kaidan waited as two guard skidded up behind her. It was Dreadlocks and his bearded sidekick.

"This guy again?" the sidekick said.

"Where's your ID card?" the woman asked Kaidan.

Kaidan pulled the ID card from a pocket and held it at arm's length. The female guard put a hand on her hip and cocked her helmet at him. Dreadlocks moved around her.

"I've got it."

His friend, bucked teeth peeking out from his beard, shuffled forward a couple of steps and raised his rifle at Kaidan.

"Make it quick," Kaidan snapped waving the card in his hands.

"Just covering our bases, sir," Dreadlocks said.

The female guard motioned Buck Teeth to follow Dreadlocks. She hoisted her rifle up against her shoulder and looked down the barrel as she edged closer into the hall. A shadow fell across her face, and Kaidan released the tight breath in his chest. With those rifles aimed on him, he couldn't move unexpectedly. If they expected him to move though, it could buy a few seconds of response time.

"Any time," Kaidan said.

"You could have met us partway," Dreadlocks said with a few steps left.

He looked down at his Omni-Tool and flicked on the blue light.

"Fine," Kaidan sighed and stepped forward.

Dreadlock's head snapped up, eyes wide, as Kaidan backhanded him into the wall. Kaidan glowed shooting a hand out at the woman and yanking her forward. His Omni-Tool flared on the other hand, and Buck Tooth's rifle clattered to the floor as his eyes crystalized with frost. The female guard streaked past. Kaidan smashed into the basement door with a crunch. Dreadlocks gasped staggering upright against the wall. He raised his rifle mouth opening. Kaidan grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall. The rifle clattered to the floorboards from his shocked fingertips. A blue flash of energy and his neck snapped under Kaidan fingers. Dreadlocks dropped limply as Kaidan whirling on Buck Tooth, the white cast draining away from his eyes. The eyelashes blinked, mouth starting to move. Kaidan drove him against the wall over Dreadlocks's still form. The ice across his skin cracked. Kaidan drove him against the wall again, and he shattered. Kaidan deflected a spray of ice shards with a wave of biotics and stumbled back panting. Floorboards creaked down the hall at the mouth of the hallway. Kaidan whipped his head around. That boy.

"Alert! Ale—"

Kaidan tore him off his feet, flailing, rifle dropping, and whipped him down the hall in a streak of light at the basement door. Blood rushed in his ears, and Kaidan pulled back with a fist. The boy jolted to a stop a breath from the basement door. He sucked at the air hanging suspended. Kaidan raced down. As the boy's jaw opened, and Kaidan slapped a hand over his mouth and shoved him against the wall. Blue faded off Kaidan's skin.

"Shut up," Kaidan whispered.

The boy struggled against Kaidan's fingers trying to open his mouth. Kaidan pulled him forward and slammed his head against the wall in emphasis. The boy blinked, eyes unfocused, hot breath burning across the back of Kaidan's hand. Hot blood trickled from his nose and pooling along the side of Kaidan's finger running over his knuckles. Kaidan pressed a pistol into the boy's temple and stared down the hall at the gallery light. He listened. Footsteps. More than one person.

The woman's crumpled body at the bottom of the basement door moved with a gurgle. Kaidan flashed blue flicking a hand at her. She hissed and gasped as the reave hit her. Her limbs went limp, and she lay silent. Footsteps closed in on the hallway. Kaidan leaned his face close into the boy's.

"Don't make me kill you. Yell back everything's okay."

Kaidan stared him hard in the eye then lifted his hand off the boy's mouth. The pistol's barrel dug deeper into the boy's temple as the boy gasped for breath. Boots pounded closer. The boy's eyes flashed with fire.

"Hel—"

Kaidan smacked the butt of the pistol into the boy's forehead. The boy caught at the wall sucking at air and still trying to scream. Kaidan hit him again. The boy slipped down the wall in a blood streak and slumped against the floor.

Armored steps slowed nearing the staircase. Kaidan dashed to the mouth of the hallway and hugged against the wall. His Omni-blade glowing in the darkness as his feet edged up to the bright band of light from the gallery.

A rifle spun around the corner. Kaidan grabbed it with one hand and starfished a palm over the man's mouth. A blue flash and his neck popped as Kaidan dragged him into the dark. Another rifle swung around the corner and aimed before Kaidan could react. The guard flashed blue and flew past Kaidan down the hallway. Kaidan stumbled back, energy shining off his skin, and shot a hand out ready. A shadow turning the corner. It was Miranda.

The corona faded from Kaidan's skin as Miranda rushed past him to the man she'd thrown down the hall. He struggled trying to rise to his feet. Miranda kicked him in the face and crunched his neck under her boot heel. Kaidan stared at her.

"You're welcome," she panted.

Kaidan stepped over the rifleman he'd killed and peeked around the corner of the hall. The crowd had cleared out significantly. The stairs were empty. Some curious looks turned his direction from the mass huddled around the auditorium archway doors. They were only vaguely curious looks though. The blaring voices on stage and whispered conversations of hundreds of people must have insulated the noise. Kaidan turned away.

"Did they see you use your biotics?" Kadian asked.

"It's bright out there and it was only a quick burst," Miranda said. She shook her head with a hiss though and gave him a hard look. "You're loud. I followed these guards, but they'll be more once these others don't check in." Miranda gazed around them in the dark. "Three, four … how many are here?" She glared at him. "They'll definitely miss this many."

Kaidan drug a hand down his face with a growl. "I know. Help me drag these ones down."

Miranda grabbed the man's feet below her. Kaidan grabbed the another's ankles.

"Where's James?" Kaidan said.

"Following your man. Tobin left the stage, went upstairs. I heard the commotion over here."

They dragged the bodies to the basement door. Last body dropped, Kaidan smacked the open button for the basement door. Nothing happened. Kaidan cursed and tore off the panel beside the door as his Omni-Tool flicked on. A voice moaned behind him. Sounded like the boy. Blue light glimmered on the metal door in front of Kaidan. His pulse spike, and he swung around with a raised hand. Blue flashed over the boy with a booming clapback. Miranda staggered back a step. An aftershock shivered over them, and Kaidan stood.

"What …? Did you just block me?" Miranda's lips drew back as she turned to him.

Kaidan bent and checked the boy's pulse. He was alive. His fingers twitched, moaning again as Kaidan stood up. The boy was waking up. Fingernails dug into Kaidan's bicep, and Miranda twisted him around.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Trust me," Kaidan snapped and unclawed her fingers.

He shoved her hand back and tore bandages out of his pocket. He bent over the boy.

"You're giving him first aid?" Miranda grabbed Kaidan's shoulder.

"Stop!" He flicked her hand off. "I'm making a gag." He pointed to the basement door's control panel. "Get that open."

"I'm not a tech. Won't be fast," Miranda snorted but scurried down next to the panel. Her Omni-Tool brightened the hall with orange light. She shot him a glare over her shoulder. "This is insane, Kaidan."

Kaidan finished the gag. The boy's eyelids quivered but didn't open. Kaidan folded out a pair of biotic handcuffs stuffed in a back pocket. The boy wasn't a biotic, but it worked on anyone with hands. Kaidan secured the cuffs and flopped the boy onto his stomach.

Sparks sprayed out of the control panel, and Miranda muttered. Kaidan shoved in beside her with his own Omni-Tool up. Miranda got to her feet.

"So … what?" she said gesturing at the boy. "We're taking prisoners, Kaidan? Tell me. How's that going to work?"

"Just stop." Kaidan held up a hand and gave her a pointed glare before turning back to the panel. "Trust me."

The door activated. Kaidan jumped to his feet. Miranda paced down the hall, listened, and wandered back. There wasn't any fire in her steps. There must still only be the drone of the microphone and baseline murmur of a crowd.

"James?" Kaidan touched his earpiece.

Miranda grabbed a body by the shoulder and dragged him through the open doorway. Armored heels thumped down the basement stairs to the bottom before she tore up the stairs for the next.

"Kaidan," James said. "Hey. I followed Tobin. But, uh … kinda bad news."

"What do you mean?" Kaidan massaged his temple. He'd have a hell of a migraine in a few hours. "James?"

"Yeah … So, uh, they just went out the front door - Tobin, some of the other faces you showed us. What'd you want me to do? I have my ID."

"No," Kaidan rushed to say. "No one uses those IDs. You leave mid-meeting out the front door, they're sure to check it with the light. Come to the south end of the gallery. Hallway behind the stairs. We regroup."

Kaidan dug around the bodies searching their utility belts and pockets.

"That hard up for credits?" Miranda asked.

Kaidan held up an ID card and gave her a flat look. He pulled the body down the stairs and searched through the ones Miranda had already deposited.

"Here." He came up the stairs and flipped a card to her.

She caught it. "New ID? I'm not a blonde." She turned the picture to him.

"You want one of these then?" He folded them out in one hand like a deck of cards. "You want to be a man with dreadlocks? How about this one? Hair color's right."

"This won't pass." Miranda waved it at him.

He pushed it back to her. "Put your thumb over the picture, maybe they won't notice. Say you dyed your hair. You use the other one, there's no chance of slipping through an inspection."

Kaidan took down the last body. When Kaidan reached the top step, Miranda was standing over the boy. She rolled his head to the side with the toe of her boot.

"He's coming to," she said. "What're you going to do about it?"

Kaidan pushed her aside and grabbed him by the collar of his armor. Kaidan lugged him to the stairs. The boy's legs dragged. His feet caught with a smack on each step, but Kaidan kept the boy's face and chest raised high. Miranda's feet tapped down the stairs behind him. Kaidan turned to her.

"Wait for James, then close that door behind us. Lock it."

"Lock ourselves in?"

"I'm draining the water system. We'll get out through there."

"While hauling around that kid?"

Kaidan glared up the stairs at her. "Miranda, listen—"

"Just let me do it," Miranda snapped. "You can rest your pretty little conscious knowing I did it, not you."

Kaidan dropped the boy and tore up the stairs two at a time.

"Listen up." He jammed a finger in her face. "We're not playing around. You do what I say, or you don't come. You decide."

He held her eye for a moment then turned back down the stairs.

"Wait for James, then lock the door."

Kaidan snagged the boy by his collar and dragged him to the bottom of the stairs. The boy's head lulled, and he moaned through the gaga. It was dark, and Kaidan wasn't sure where the lights were. He didn't have time to figure it out. His Omni-Tool light illuminated stacks of stage background cut-outs, rows of shelves, dusty bins, building materials, and overflowing boxed of hats and costuming. Light bounced down the wall illuminating a door at the far end of the basement. It could be a furnace room or electrical access, but it seemed the right position to be the drain system.

He dropped the boy beside the door. The boy groaned and lifted his head slightly before slumping back against the wall. His eyelids fluttered. Kaidan could hit him again and try to knock him out. Blood and bruises distorted the boy's swelling face, and Kaidan sighed. No, another hit might tip the scale.

The utility door was locked. Of course, it was. Kaidan found the side panel and overrode it. The door opened on a room blinking with a grid of buttons Pipes dripped from the ceiling and crisscrossed the back wall. Kaidan smiled.